A day at the Rankokas American Indian Reservation, complete with a private tour given by 79-year-old reservation tour guide and Richmond, VA native Joseph “Jos” Jefferson, turned out to be quite the informative experience. Jefferson, who is Native American on both his mother and father’s side of the family, has been a crucial part of the reservation’s educational team for the past 30 years. Jefferson’s heritage is a mix of the Chippewa and Powhatan tribes, the Powhatans being the main point of the reservation’s focus (the reservation is also known as The Powhatan-Renape Nation).
A little about Jos: he was married and had children, but never went to college. He was a power plant engineer, a marine engineer, an infantry sergeant, and worked on helicopters as while he was in the armed forces. More specifically, he served in the United States Army for 11 years, and in the Navy for nine years.
Jos’ guided tour of the reservation’s museum revealed a beautifully illustrated story regarding the Powhatan people and how they came to acquire the land and make it a reservation. The Powhatan tribe had consisted of about 2000 people during the 1600′s. When the English came to stake their claim on the Powhatan’s land, a language barrier between the two groups was apparent. Since the English couldn’t communicate with the tribe, the closest they could come to a connection was through the tribe’s chief : Chief Powhatan. The English came to call Chief Powhatan and his 2000 Powhatan people the “Powhatan Village.” The Powhatan people’s “village” was actually very vast: they encompassed 123 villages total, with 35 different tribal names within the 123 villages.
Within 53 years after the English arrived, the Powhatans were overcome with diseases previously unknown to them, but brought by the English. Before these new diseases arrived, the Powhatans were able to cure their ailments through the use of herbs and rituals, but they were unprepared for the new sicknesses and lacked the knowledge of which plants and herbs to use to cure them. The Powhatans were soon overcome and outnumbered by the English.
An interesting aspect of the Powhatan culture is the legend of Pocahontas: a legend that is surrounded by many misconceptions. Pocahontas was atually a part of the Powhatan people, her real name being Matoaki. She was the daughter of Chief Powhatan himself. The real story is this: Pocahontas, of the Powhatan tribe, went off to England in the late 1600′s to marry a man named John Rolf. While in England, she died, and her body is still buried there. Interestingly enough, Jos and the staff at Rankokas American Indian Reservation asked to have her remains sent back to America, to be laid in their rightful place: her homeland. The English denied their request, and her body still rests in England today.
Coming back to the history of the Powhatans: Though the English brought diseases that were new to the Powhatans, the English also contracted diseases that were familiar to the tribe. The Powhatan people kept the English from dying of disease by showing them how to cure their sicknesses through herbal remedies. They also taught them how to survive off of the land, by teaching them how to preserve their food.
The area that the Powhatan people possessed was a large amount of land, stemming from Washington D.C. all the way down to the border of North Carolina. Today, six of the Powhatan tribes who lived within these borders are still recognized- the rivers between Washington D.C. and North Carolina are named after six of the tribes. The rivers are: Rappahammock, Mattaponi, Chickahominy, Pamunkey, Potomac (which is a commonly known river), and the Nansamond.
The Native Americans have their own language, as do Germans, Italians, Chinese, etc. The two main languages were the Algonquin and the Athabascan languages. Later, the two were mixed to create around 500 different dialects in the United States alone. Within other areas, including South America, Mexico, and Central America, there are over 2,000 dialects. Jos explains just how different these dialects are.
“If I spoke one dialect, and came across someone who spoke a different dialect, it would be like someone Chinese trying to speak to someone French. They are that different. What means ‘hello’ in one dialect, means ‘have you eaten yet today?’ in another dialect,” said Jefferson, adding, “Native Americans from different tribes had to use hand or sign language to communicate at all.”
Jos explained that our government only recognizes about 300 or so of the 500 Native American dialects.
The next, and worst, invasion on the Powhatans land was when the Europeans came to settle in America. The East Coast was hit the hardest, because the Europeans came to the East Coast first.
The museum is made up of large glass encasements filled with scenes depicting how the Powhatans lived.
One glass encasement showed a stuffed deer, and included a sign that reads, “THE INDIANS USED EVERY OART OF A DEER. NOTHING WAS WASTED.” Jos explained that the Native Americans were a resourceful people, and made sure no part of anything they killed was every discarded. The deer meat was eaten, the skin was used to make clothes and drums, the antlers were used to make jewelry and carving or cutting tools, and the hooves were used as tools as well. Sometimes, in between their travels, the Native Americans would kill a deer, take out the insides, blow air into the leftover skin, which would blow up like a balloon and be left to dry out. When the “deer bubble” (for lack of a better phrase) was completely dried-out, the Indians would fill it up with water, sling it over their shoulder, and carry it around and drink from it like a water bottle.
The parts of a bear were also all used: the meat was eaten and the fat was cooked in oil and rubbed into the people’s hair and skin to keep it from drying out (the campfires would dry out hair and skin). The claws and teeth were used to make tools or jewelry.
The legend of the eagle is one that I especially liked. Here’s how Jos explained it:
“When the people would see an eagle flying by, they would extend their arms to the sky, and because the eagle is known to the Indians as the messenger bird, it was said that a good person’s prayers would leave their arms and be caught on the eagle’s wings, and the eagle would carry those prayers to the spirit, to God,” said Jefferson.
An interesting tactic the Powhatans used to identify which tool worked best for killing a certain animal was depicted on their cave walls. They would draw a specific animal, and right next to it, they would stick an arrowhead. This was so future tribes who passed through could identify which type of arrowhead was the best to hunt the animals that dwelled in that area.
The reservation, which has been in existence since 1981, is also filled with instruments used by the Native people. Drums, rattles, and flutes were utilized by the Powhatans. The drum was not only used for war, it was also used in medicine ceremonies and gatherings. If a member of the tribe was out hunting, and the tribe suspected impending danger, they would have a specific drum beat that they would play. The beat could be heard for miles, and the wandering tribe member would hear it and know to come back, as his people were leaving the area.
While the men of the tribe occupied their time with hunting, fishing, and battles, the women were to take care of the camp. The women made utensils and clothes, purses (out of turtle shells), buck (deer)-skin dresses, and made kradle boards (long boards that were hoisted on their backs to carry their babies).
“The women had invented their own cotton looms, and could weave dresses and such. They perfected their model long before the industrial revolution came along and the ‘new” cotton looms were invented,” said Jefferson.
The final part of the tour was when Jos took me through the art section. On every wall, in every corner, are beautiful paintings and sculptures illustrating Native Americans and their way of life.
The museum, called The Charles Banse American Indian Museum, is named after the museum’s former curator, Charles Banse. Banse’s artwork is featured in the gallery, and he is a direct descendant of Pocahontas.
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Tags: american indian nj, native amerian, native american nj, powatan, powhatan renape nation, rancocas native american reservation, rankokas native american reservation
